Chevelle savoring its role as tour headliners

News-Times, The (Danbury, CT)

Published
7:00 pm EST, Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Sam Loeffler
certainly appreciates what he's accomplished so far in the music industry.

As the drummer for the rock band Chevelle, he's scored six chart hits � including a pair of No. 1 songs � over the past six years. Along with his band mates and real life brothers, singer-guitarist
Pete
and bassist
Joe
, he's toured Europe with Audioslave, sold out clubs throughout the United States and played Ozzfest's mainstage.

But when it comes to recalling career highlights, Loeffler doesn't have to look too far back. In a Feb. 5 interview from Spokane, Wash., he said the band's current role as headliners on the Winterfresh SnoCore Tour is among its biggest achievements to date. The tour stops March 1 at the
Webster Theatre
in Hartford and March 6 at the

"The idea (for the tour) was based around the whole extreme sports � snowboarding, skiing and things like that," Loeffler said. "The guy who founded it was into that. So it's been 10 years and lots and lots of different bands have done it. This is the 10th anniversary and they asked us to do it.

"We said, We'd love to do it, but we really, really want Helmet to do it with us. Otherwise, it doesn't feel quite as special,'�" he added. "So it was really cool that they said yes."

What made Loeffler so intent on touring with Helmet, the rock-metal hybrid founded by singer-guitarist
Page Hamilton
back in 1989?

"Well, a couple of reasons," Loeffler said. "One is that they're a big influence on us. Another is that they've got a new record out (called "Size Matters") and it's really good and it was just cool to be with another good band."

Born Dec. 17, 1974, Loeffler grew up in Chicago's suburbs. His father has a remodeling company, while his mother stayed at home to raise him and his six siblings.

Growing up on punk and hard-core music by the likes of the Dead Kennedys and the Minutemen, Sam eventually went to community college.

Along with his two brothers, he played music and eventually formed Chevelle. Though they fight often, they've come to realize that their musical partnership is a business arrangement as well.

Chevelle has made good on it since debuting in 1999 with "Point #1," an independent release that contained a minor hit in its title track. Their major label debut, 2002's platinum-selling "Wonder What's Next," included the No. 1 hit "Send the Pain Below" and two other chart hits � "The Red" (No. 3) and "Closure" (No. 11).

On the SnoCore Tour, Chevelle has been playing songs from "Wonder," as well as selections from their latest album, 2004's "This Type of Thinking (Could Do Us In)." Already gold, the new album includes the No. 1 hit "Vitamin R (Leading Us)" and the Top 25 hit "The Clincher."

"On the next tour, we'll probably go back and do some more stuff from the other records," Loeffler said. "On this one right now, it's such a long show that we decided that we would just play 12 songs. It's five bands and by the end of the night people listen to four hours solid of music and they're beat up. So we play like a 55-minute set or even a 50-minute set sometimes with no encore. It's more like we're part of what's going on rather than it having to be all about us."

The following are additional excerpts from the interview:
What was it like working with
Steve Albini
� who's produced for Nirvana, Failure, Helmet and the Pixies � early in your career?
"He did our first record on the indy label before we signed with Epic. He's good. He's great. He's one of the smartest guys I've ever met. He's very much an engineer. He doesn't like to tell you how to do anything. He doesn't like to tell you how to play or what to do. He's like, Whatever it is that you do is the right way to do it.' So he's very much a purist, which is cool."
How did you get to work with Steve? Was the indy label (Squint Entertainment) part of a larger label?
"No. In fact, they don't even exist anymore. They folded. Steve Albini is an engineer. He owns a studio called Electrical Audio. He'll do anything for anyone. You just call him up and book some time with him."
You'd been playing music with your brothers for years. What made you decide it was time to make your first album?
"You make demos of songs and practice recording and all that stuff. You keep doing your thing and doing your thing and then somebody kind of discovers you at a label and pays for your next demo basically. That's kind of what Point #1' was for us too. It wasn't really a demo, but it was kind of a low-production, lo-fi recording."
Could you tell me what it's like to write songs with your brothers? What's the process?
"Pete, our singer-guitarist, pretty much writes most things on acoustic or on electric. When he gets a little bit of a riff together or something, he'll come to us and we'll start making it as a band. And then we just work from there."
How did you go about choosing the three chart singles from "Wonder What's Next" a couple years back?
"You know, when you pick a single, so many different people are involved. We tell them what we like and our management, our record label (and) a bunch of radio people kind of listen to some songs and say what they think. There are so many people involved at that level, but we all agreed on what the singles should be."
Between "The Red," "Closure" and "Send the Pain Below," do you have a favorite of the hits that you enjoy performing the most?
"I don't like playing singles anymore, man. We've played them so many times. On the new record, The Clincher' is really fun to play. But there's other songs � like Get Some' is a really fun song to play and Emotional Drought' is a really fun song to play. I still have favorites, but, at the same time, they're not really singles."
Do you still play the hits from your last album in concert?
"Yeah, we still play them because you kind of have to. We try to do them a little bit different, but it's pretty subtle differences."
You've been on Epic Records for roughly three years. Now that you've played shows with the
Foo Fighters
and met
Jim Carrey
on "
David Letterman
," does it still faze you when you meet or work with other famous people?
"We're pretty used to it. We're coming up on a thousand shows soon. So we've played a lot of shows, we've played with a lot of bands, we've done a lot of things. We've been on tour since '99. So I guess the newness of it is worn out, but you still love it, especially when you get to go out with somebody that's sort of like your heroes in rock music � like Helmet. That's really cool."
With all those shows � including the 400 you played promoting "Wonder What's Next" � how do you manage your time so you're not completely exhausted?
"During show days and in between, we usually end up doing a lot of interviews. And then when you get some time, you try to go to the movies or try to go to the mall or just something to get away from it so you can sort of get newly excited when you have your show that night."
Let's talk about "The Clincher," your latest single. What inspired that song?
"It came out last week. The song itself is about claustrophobia basically. It's about being buried alive. So it's not something that everybody talks about, but everybody has a form of claustrophobia so I guess everyone can relate."
Can you tell me about "Vitamin R," your lead single from the new album?
"Well, Vitamin R,' the song itself is about a friend of ours who had a whole drug thing that he was dealing with. The song is not really for or against Ritalin or anything like that, but it's just one of those things, you know. It's just about him rather � not about the drug itself. There's not really a comment on any of that stuff. We thought it was an interesting subject and we like him a lot and we thought it would be funny."
Do you still meet your fans often at the shows?
"Oh, yeah. Every night we go out and say Hey' to everybody and it's good."
What do you hope fans take from their SnoCore Tour experience?
"I hope that they realize that there are still real rock bands out there and there's still people who are doing it. We're one of the people who are doing it and Helmet's one of the people that are doing it. You don't have to change your music style to
Britney Spears
in order to have some success. You can write the music that you want to write. (And) even if it is Britney Spears, that's cool."

For the Hartford show, doors open at 6:30 p.m. The venue is at 31 Webster St. Tickets are $23.50. Call (800) 477-6849. The Poughkeepsie show begins at 5 p.m. The venue is at 14 Civic Center Plaza. Tickets are $23.50. Call (845) 454-3388.